Rock Band

"The Most Ambitious Music Game Ever"

Have you ever wanted adoring fans to scream out your name? How about having them sing along with you during the chorus of your most famous song? You can't play an instrument? No problem.

Rock Band, the latest game developed by Harmonix, embodies a wide range of rock fantasies and assumptions that were a given since KISS first took the stage. With an impressive track list and the best co-op game in ages, Rock Band becomes the best party game of the year and possibly of the century.

The Sound of Music

The most important factor in any rhythm-based game is the sound, and Rock Band delivers one of the strongest track lists in a long time. Bands such as The Foo Fighters, Nirvana, KISS, Deep Purple and Jet all make an appearance with some of their biggest songs ever. Fifty-four of the fifty-nine songs are the original studio recordings and the other five sound close enough.

Although fifty-nine songs may sound like a lot at first, you will constantly find yourself repeating songs due to difficulty problems and for the sake of story progression. To address this problem, however, Harmonix has already started offering downloadable content to add songs to your library, which will automatically be updated straight into the story's campaign (World Tour).

As in Guitar Hero, the notes represent a part of the song and when played incorrectly, the only thing you will hear is the harsh sound of a wrong note or the awkward sound of a string break. On the flip side, play them correctly and you will be rewarded with the sound of your instrument playing correctly and hearing the song the way it was truly intended to be heard.

Playing in a band has never been so easy

The thing that has generated the most hype for Rock Band is, of course, the instruments. Rock Band is packed with a guitar, a microphone, and an electric drum set with a kick pedal and all. As for the guitar, not much has changed since Harmonix's last game, Guitar Hero II, but it does feature a much more realistic guitar with a majority of the songs having easier passages than in the Guitar Hero series.

The microphone works very well by accurately measuring pitch and successfully creates the ultimate karaoke experience. Having had the game for a few months now and having several people over to play, I don't think even the worst of singers could fail a song on easy, however, even the most talented of singers will have trouble on expert. Somehow Harmonix managed to find a way to make a fun and challenging experience for everyone...except for the people that have to listen to you.

The drums are by far the most challenging instrument and will take even the quickest of learners weeks to master. Having the most realistic design, players that manage to conquer expert mode with the drum set will actually be able to transfer the skills that they learned from Rock Band to the actual drums. Although it does come with the drum sticks, Rock Band is missing a drum seat, which is a real bummer for the more avid fans. Due to the incredibly realistic design and sheer fun of the instruments, however, you won't be thinking about what you are sitting on for very long.
The career mode entitled Rock Band World tour, takes your created band from nothing to everything. You start from a starting location of your choice and play shows at the local venue there. As you become more popular in an area, you unlock different areas and even different venues in the same cities. While not only focusing on how well your band is doing (stars), Rock Band also focuses on your popularity by giving you a fan base that will increase and decrease depending on how well you perform.

One of the biggest highlights for Rock Band is the addition of online play. Through your online service you can hook up with other members and create your own band play through songs that you have unlocked. In my experience with the game, I had virtually no lag and was surprised at how fun it was playing with complete strangers. One thing I would have liked to see out of the online play was the ability to take World Tour online, but sadly it was left out of the online arena.

A slightly more realistic look to pull off your deepest rock fantasies.

One of the changes that was made by Harmonix when developing Rock Band was to give it a more realistic look than the Guitar Hero series. Overall, it does create a better atmosphere that you can get a little more caught up in than in the Guitar Hero series. The characters don't look as photo-realistic as they do in other games, but the style fits very well.

Along with a more realistic look, Rock Band feature a very deep and creative character builder. Everything from the color of your rocker's hair to their tattoos is fully customizable. There are not a lot of options for changing how your rocker's actual face looks, the other choices, such as clothing and modifying tattoos, are very robust and manage to give them a very personalized look. The singers have been lip-synced very well and the musicians move with fluid animations to match. With over thirty venues to play at, your created characters will have no problem getting a change of scenery while on their Rock Band tour.

The best party in a very long time.

Rock Band does so many things great that it becomes very easy to overlook the bad and continue on your walk to the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. Although the $170 price tag may look like a bit much at first, it is well worth every penny to fulfill all of your wildest rock fantasies. By the time you finish your first Rock Band tour you will be ready to start another one and give the fans exactly what they want: you.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/08

Game Release: Rock Band (Bundle) (US, 11/20/07)